Daisy Tosh
Bowral High School
IT TAKES A VILLAGE
Collection of Work
Clay, acrylic, rust paint, spray paint, charcoal, canvas
It takes a village to raise a child but eventually the child transgresses beyond the village’s bounds. The buildings and streets in my body of work represent the environment, with the scaffolding motifs exploring the integral role of my home town in my construction. I was inspired by Hundertwasser’s subversion of geometric forms, seeing in them the feeling of alienation that my work is intended to express. The work is a combination of slab and coil construction with the scaffolding being a delicate process of bandages and nails. I used many techniques and mediums, primarily acrylic, spray paint and collage.
Marker's Commentary
It Takes a Village is a sophisticated narrative that espouses a familial and intimate relationship with a place. Initially the audience is aware of a mature, innovative and highly accomplished practice employing two diverse materials. The interplay between the complex sculptural forms and richly layered surface treatments, materially and metaphorically, reference architectural structures, urban environments and natural scapes. Each surface acts as a marker of time and memory, inviting the audience into the work through its warm, rich kaleidoscope of colour and texture. It evokes ideas of time passing within a harmonious and familiar landscape. The painterly linear motifs suggest an expansive view. The layered compositions map the landscape through an interplay of shifting perspectives suggesting development and growth.